The self-heating effect is a dangerous phenomenon that occurs in polymers and polymer matrix composites during their cyclic loading, and may significantly influence structural degradation and durability as a consequence. Therefore, an analysis of its criticality is highly demanding, due to the wide occurrence of this effect, both in laboratory fatigue tests, as well as in engineering practice. In order to overcome the problem of the accelerated degradation of polymer matrix structures, it is essential to evaluate the characteristic temperature values of self-heating, which are critical from the point of view of the fatigue life of these structures, i.e., the temperature at which damage initiates, and the safe temperature range in which these structures can be safely maintained. The experimental studies performed were focused on the determination of the critical self-heating temperature, using various approaches and measurement techniques. This paper present an overview of the research studies performed in the field of structural degradation, due to self-heating, and summarizes the studies performed on the evaluation of the criticality of the self-heating effect. Moreover, the non-destructive testing method, which uses the self-heating effect as a thermal excitation source, is discussed, and the non-destructivity of this method is confirmed by experimental results.
Keywords: composite structures; cyclic loading; fatigue; polymers; self-heating effect; vibrothermography.